Well, it's Thai fried chicken. But I'm not sure if they even have that in Thai cuisine. Probably completely made up by western chefs. Perhaps someone can enlighten me. Anyways, I forgot when and where I ate this. But I love it, always have always will. I love that combination of spicy and citrus and crunchy fried skin. Enjoy the picture!
Let me introduce you to the world of Tajine cooking. My girlfriend introduced it to me, and planned to buy one in Taiwan for the longest time. So today, she finally saw one she liked at a store near the Breeze center. So she bought it. She instantly went to the japanese book store in old Sogo (Fuxing) and bought a Tajine recipe book. For those unfamiliar with Tajine, it is "is a dish from North Africa, that is named after the special earthenware pot in which it is cooked. The traditional tajine pot is formed entirely of a heavy clay, which is sometimes painted or glazed. It consists of two parts: a base unit that is flat and circular with low sides, and a large cone or dome-shaped cover that rests inside the base during cooking. The cover is so designed to promote the return of all condensation to the bottom. With the cover removed, the base can be taken to the table for serving." For our first trail run, we decided to make Thai Panang Curry over Thai long grain rice. Ingredients include potatoes, bamboo shoots, green peppers and chicken. The food turned out great! She found that the Tajine really cooks the food a bit faster.
Much like a pressure cooker as she said. The only faults that we came into were: the pot is too shallow to cook for more three portions and the lid doesn't have a ventilation hole. Too much steam would build up and start spitting curry all over the place instead of letting some steam off through a ventilation hole. If only I had a drill. But then again, I wouldn't want to possible ruin the beautiful orange polka dotted design the lid had. Thats ok. We'll make do. What dish do I want to add to the kitchen arsenal? Hmmm...escargot dish?
Yuki and I have been wanting to cook this for about a week. It's a simple fried rice dish, nothing fancy. But with a Thai pineapple twist. The only special ingredient that you really need is the Thai fish sauce. It really adds to the flavor. Online, it says you can use soy sauce as a substitute. But the flavor is really different between the two. A lot of western reviewers couldn't stand the fish sauce flavor. Pansies! Haha! Also, you'd think slicing the pineapple would be hard, but with a good sturdy spoon, it wasn't that hard to scoop out the pineapple meat. I have some extra leftover ingredients in the refrigerator, so i'll most likely try it out again later in the week. Enjoy the photos.
I'll make this short. It was Thai night with friends in Gongguan. Dinner was spectacular as usual. Thai food is one of my favorites with it's many assortments of spicy and citrus-y flavors. All their curry's and pad thais, chicken, and fishes are always bursting with flavor! Afterwards we stopped by the really famous pearl milk tea place in Gonguan. They use fresh milk and their pearls are soft and sweet because it's made of black sugar (黑糖). They're always a line going down the street as people clamor for a cup of this pearl milk tea. The name of the place is Chensan （陳三＿）...I don't know how to read the last word, but you can see it in the picture. Until next time!
Yuki and I have heard about Bali for a long time. It's a small little paradise close to Taipei city, across the river from Danshui. Similar to Bali, Indonesia in atmosphere, which makes it a very popular spot for the Taiwanese. It's very convenient to get to, via MRT and a ferry across the river. Despite this, it took us a while to find the time to get there. So today, in the afternoon we headed over to Danshui and quickly onto the ferry. Once in Bali, you notice a huge difference in atmosphere and you really feel like you've just been whisked away to Indonesia. With palms trees, bicycles, beaches, boardwalks, street food, music, celebrations and rows of sea side restaurants with a view. We immediately went to the generous City funded bike rental. Still about $30NT per person per hour. We rode through town all the way to the Shihsanhang Museum of Archaeology (十三行博物館). It's far away from the main street of Bali, but Yuki is a fan of architecture and interior design, so i'd thought it be of interest. It's a very unique building, in addition, the museum inside is all free of cost. It's small though, it only took us 30 minutes to walk through. It also has a nice grand deck outside facing the river where Yuki and I enjoyed the sun set. The bike rental closes at 7:30pm so we had to ride back to town to return them and find some dinner in Bali.
Walking along Renai street (仁愛路) there are several nice cafe's and restaurants to choose from. First was Island (小島泰式料理) a Thai restaurant with a cool bahama design to the patio and interior. Next was Skiff (小艇) a small two story greek looking atmosphere with a tropical patio and roof top tables. Finally was Badasan (芭達叅原住民主題餐廳) a two story elaborately decorated Taiwanese aborigine themed restaurant. They had loud music and it was packed full of customers. Definitely one of the more popular spots. Seems the average cost of most of the restaurants are around $300-400/person. There are a lot more restaurants we failed to explore, so don't think there's only three to choose from. So in the end, we chose the Thai restaurant...Island. We had Pad Thai, grilled chicken wrapped in bamboo leaves and a bottle of Singha (Thai beer). The chicken was the best. Smokey and slightly crispy. With the great food, bahama atmosphere and beer, it was a very relaxing escape from the bustling city of Taipei. I love Taiwan, it has soo much to offer. Further more, I hear there's even Green Island (錄島) and Orchid Island (蘭嶼), which is even more of a tropical paradise similar to Hawaii but without the higher cost. I'll have to visit those in the future :). I have pictures from my film camera but it'll take a while before they're developed.
